Overview
- The Argentine presidency confirmed the country’s participation, with ATENEA integrated into its deployer and already in the United States for launch as a secondary payload.
- NASA is moving SLS and Orion into launch configuration at Kennedy Space Center, targeting an initial February 6 date within a February–April window for a roughly 10‑day free‑return flight without a lunar landing.
- The crew comprises NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
- Built by CONAE with VENG, IAR, CNEA, UNLP, UNSAM, and UBA, ATENEA will gather deep‑space radiation data, test commercial components, log GPS data for transfer orbits, and validate long‑range communications, with deployment planned before the lunar approach.
- Reporters flagged the presidential claim of a 72,000‑km ‘record’ distance for the crew as inconsistent with lunar ranges, with follow‑up coverage clarifying the figure as pertaining to the Argentine satellite’s planned reach.